And now a word from Ted
Multnomah County Commission Chair Ted Wheeler wrote me the other day about this post. I had written that the City of Portland had "stepped up" and helped fund Hooper Detox Center for another year. What I had read in the papers was that the city was going to buy some real estate from the county, and the county was going to use the purchase price to help Central City Concern run Hooper (and the Chiers van). To me that sounded like the city paying for Hooper.
Ted corrected me as follows:
Jack - just a nit - the County has agreed to fund Hooper for another year (the City agreed in turn to continue funding P57 which they had proposed to defund if they had to pick up Hooper...)Not being in the loop on these things, I had to ask what "P57" was, and Wheeler wrote back:
It is Project 57 which funds jail beds that are prioritized for lower level offenders (non-violent) who commit crimes in the City of Portland. It was created by Randy Leonard, funded by the City of Portland, and contracted to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. The program is intended to target so-called "quality of life" crimes committed in Portland -- such crimes include prostitution and dealing drugs on street corners.It's all green tax money to me, but it's interesting to hear that jail bed funding was on the table as part of the Hooper discussions. I don't remember reading that in the papers. Then again, maybe I wasn't reading carefully enough.
I gave Ted a hard time during his election campaign last year, for his huge war chest and his old-boy-timber connections. I'm glad to see he's reading here and willing to respond. So far under his reign there's been very little drama coming out of the Hawthorne Asylum (other than Bernie, of course), and that is a refreshing change, to be sure.
| Posted at 11:31 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (8)
Interesting to me to see the City hold it's own citizens hostage.
Project 57 (named because of the number of beds it theoretically funds) was created by the City about two years ago (if memory serves) to create a place to put primarily drug and prostitution offenders (and Drug-Free and Prostitution-Free Zone offenders) somewhere to guarantee that they wouldn't get turnstile justice and to help remove them from the streets.
It was originally intended for Portland-area offenders only, and that explains the City's funding. It ended up working to benefit Gresham, Troutdale, Fairview, and unincorporated County, however, because of equal protection concerns.
All that said, the primary benefit was to the City. And, by threatening to defund the beds, the City was basically offering to cut off its own nose to spite its face.
However, given that Hooper is actually designed for use by the whole county and all of it's annoyingly inebriated (like P57, police in Multnomah County's other cities use Hooper because it's the only detox facility in the area), I'd think that the County should continue to fund it exclusively. Given that the county's money comes, chiefly, from Portland residents, I don't see any very legitimate policy reason for trying to shove its funding off on the City.
Posted by Rusty | June 13, 2007 1:35 PM
No, we're not getting high drama from over there-no Wagnerian opera-but what we're getting is more like elevator music:you need a reason to notice it, but its hardly good government.
I am chagrined that Ted made getting to the bottom of problems at Multnomah County Animal Services a plank in his campaign platform, but now is doing nothing. What I would like to say to him is that the fact he ought to take an objective look at the record, rather than believe what staff spreads about anyone who criticizes the place being "unbalanced". Multnomah County, heck, the whole Oregon government, needs people who are savvy enough to understand the dynamics of corrupt practices.
Posted by Cynthia | June 13, 2007 4:05 PM
Ooops! Edit: omit "the fact".
Posted by Cynthia | June 13, 2007 4:06 PM
Actually, I think all police agencies are welcome to use Hooper. I am often in line behind Beaverton, Washington county, or even Wilsonville coppers. In my opinion, Hooper is a godsend. I take more folks there than I do to jail by a mile.
Posted by JP | June 13, 2007 5:26 PM
Ted appears to be all about the job and not about the politics. What a refreshing change for our sector of the universe!
Posted by daveg | June 13, 2007 6:11 PM
Maybe the meth addicts who are using my name/account numbers to generate fake payroll checks will be eligible for P57?
The investigating officer said they are likely to get probation, even if they are prosecuted by the DA (which is a low priority given the overcrowded jail).
They've only stolen $20,000 or so, so I guess nobody has been harmed.
Posted by Mister Tee | June 13, 2007 7:09 PM
Tee:
Assuming they're prosecuted for ID Theft, the sentence depends entirely on their criminal history. Last time I was in the know, you had supervised probation for ID Theft (which is a felony) until you qualified for Repeat Property Offender status, which automatically bumps you up to prison time (13 to 26 months, depending on whether you meet certain aggravating factors for sentencing purposes). RPO status is determined based on history of engaging in a variety of property offenses, including Theft I or II, Forgery I or II, Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument I or II, Unlawful Use (or Possession) of a Stolen Motor Vehicle, ID Theft, and some other offenses.
If ID Theft can't be proven, they'd likely be on the hook for forgery II or CPFI II. Both of these are class A misdemeanors. In that case, unless they have pretty egregious histories, they are looking at 3-5 years of court probation (which means no probation officer and very little oversight). Of course, given the occasional "matrix" sprees by the Sheriff's office, jail isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be. A year in jail doesn't really mean a year in jail if the sheriff needs your bed to house a person being held for a murder prosecution or something.
Regardless, sad to hear about your info being stolen, and good luck. Here's some good info at the DA's Office website on things to do to start cleaning up the mess: http://mcda.us/va/faq.php#470.
Posted by Rusty | June 13, 2007 9:24 PM
THX Rusty. One (of two) prime suspects is a tweaker who has already lost custody of her 5 year old. If that isn't a wake-up call, I doubt her P.O./Judge is going to scare her away from the next offense.
Maybe she'll rat out the brains of the operation (who's been photographed by local grocery store security cams for the last three months).
IMO, Society will continue to be victimized by pond scum until we decide to start skimming the pool with greater frequency and fervor.
Posted by Mister Tee | June 13, 2007 11:34 PM